Like a rollercoaster, 2011 was full of transient highs and enduring lows -- mostly the latter for PC gamers. The year began with a promising lineup, but title after title fell flat. Some were incredibly buggy, others had console-esque interfaces and far too many shipped without DirectX 11 support. We'll spare you of a list because you surely recall their names, but for reference, even the excellent and well deserving game of the year, Skyrim, somehow fits in all of the above.

Determined to redeem themselves, developers have readied yet another tantalizing roster. In fact, many of last year's most anticipated titles have spilled over into 2012, including Diablo III, Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect 3 and Max Payne 3. As usual, we've assembled a list of the hottest PC games expected to hit shelves over the next 12 months. Titles are sorted alphabetically as most of the release dates aren't set in stone.

It goes without saying that some chosen games won't materialize this year and we've undoubtedly excluded some noteworthy titles -- not least of which are End of Nations, Firefall, Fortnite, Natural Selection 2, Planetside 2 and The Darkness II. Even so our list is a solid 30-title strong, so check it out.